Braid
by KEIMegumi
Summary: Nami has a haunting trouble. Zoro steps in to suggest a solution. A ZoNa fluff attempt


DISCLAIMER: It's fairly obvious that none of the characters you recognize are mine, seeing how I am not Odacchi. Any one oblivious to this fact has got to be hiding under some rock for the past 17 years.

"Aaaarrgghh!" Nami's scream of rage reverberated around the entire Thousand Sunny. It was her hair again. Now sporting a voluminous waves of orange locks, Nami found a new problem that haunted her every day – tangles. As much as she loved the sea wind in her hair as she took on each challenge issued by the temperamental Grand Line, it gave her endless trouble each and every time. The humidity of the air made her hair frizzy and puffy while the wind entangled her hair to the point beyond repair. She had to deal with the beloved mess every single morning and it drove her mad.

But she could not cut her hair. No, never. Never ever, not in a million millenniums. She thought. She loved her new hairstyle and intended to keep it the way it is now. There has to some way to both keep her long flowing locks and herself free of trouble. Frustrated, she took one long hard jerk through her hair to unravel all the tangles in one go. She then inspected the comb and started to tear up a little. Little orange spiders with way more than eight legs were stuck on it. It killed her a little inside to see her hair end up dead and broken whenever she tried to care for it.

Beat, she left her room and trudged lethargically towards her mikan trees to relax before she killed anyone. She felt a vein popped in her head when she saw Zoro asleep beneath her mikan tree. Of all her nakamas, why _this_ guy? She took a deep breath and approached him angrily.

"Zoro, wake up and go away! I don't feel like dealing with you right now." Nami shouted. To her surprise (or not), Zoro ignored her and carried on with his slumber. His action only angered Nami even more. She took a deep breath and balled her fist, ready to crash it into Zoro's thick skull anytime.

"Last warning, Roronoa, will you go away or not?" Nami added. To which Zoro flatly ignored. Pissed, Nami jammed her fist hard onto Zoro's thick stubborn skull. Zoro was not someone to be trifled with either. His eye shot open and his stare bored through Nami's eyes. One could easily tell that he was not too happy with the bump he just got from their residential navigator. He stood up abruptly and grabbed Nami's raised fist. Nami winced at the sudden pressure but was too shocked to react. She knew Zoro would never hurt her no matter how angry he was. She retreated in fear as Zoro stood staring.

Zoro sensed her fear and released her. His stared of anger changed immediately to an apologetic look. He, too retreated to show he meant no harm before muttering a barely audible "sorry" under his breath. The pair stood there wordlessly before Zoro spoke again.

"Why so cranky?" He asked.

"No why, just can't stand the sight of you." Nami replied.

"Really? I'm pretty sure you've always loved my company." Zoro joked.

"Hell, no!" Nami screamed with an obvious blushed painted across her cheeks. She stared at the ground to hide her face.

"It's my hair actually…" Nami confessed. Zoro nodded at her response before the words clicked in. Hair? He thought. Hair!? This crazy women is upset because of her hair? That doesn't even make sense, he thought. He stared at her to look for anything that will explain why her_ hair_ is upsetting her. Nothing, he could not find anything. At all. Puzzled, he reached out for her hair to get his answers. Nami backed away as she saw his hand reaching out for her. She gave him a quizzical look and waited for a response. It was never normal for Roronoa Zoro to _touch a girl's hair_. That made no sense to Nami. Zoro seemed to have notice the puzzled look on Nami face and begun.

"Sorry, just wondering what's wrong with your hair that's driving you crazy." Zoro sighed, he had never understood girls.

"Ahh! Nothing much, really. Just the tangles_. Again_." Nami sighed, feeling defeated.

"Tch, that's no big deal. No need to throw such a tantrum." Zoro retorted. Nami's veins in her head popped for the third time now.

"It's not like you understand! Damn it!" Nami spat at Zoro and stomped off.

"Wait!" Zoro called from behind her. "I can help…" he added.

"You can?" Nami turned around and asked sceptically with her brows burrowed.

Zoro nodded proudly and gestured towards the bathroom on board. "Go wash your hair first. And get some rubber bands." He commented. Nami felt that she had nothing to lose and complied, she needed a nice relaxing bath after dealing with Zoro. She trudged towards the bathroom disappeared into the door while Zoro waited for her to return. Might as well take a nap, Zoro thought.

Zoro's short nap came to an abrupt end with a rude awakening. Nami had returned from her bath with her hair blown dry and combed out neatly. She had given Zoro a swift kick to his ribs. Zoro scowled at her but did nothing. He patted the floor before him and signalled Nami to take a seat in front of him. Reluctantly, Nami sat down and waited for Zoro to begin his "help".

She felt Zoro run his fingers through her hair as if in search of tangles. She commented impatiently that she had combed out the tangles thanks to the conditioner and Zoro begun. She felt him section out her hair and started manoeuvring them about. He worked his way down her head drawing more hair to work with and soon reached to end. She felt him tapped her on her shoulder and turned around to see him holding her hair.

"What?" She asked impatiently.

"Rubber band. What else?" Zoro scolded. She rolled her eyes and gave one to Zoro with a hand stretched.

"You'd better solve my problem or I'll kill you for wasting so much of my precious time." Nami said. Still doubting that Zoro would or even could come up with a legitimate solution for her haunting problem. She was way smarter than him and coming up with a solution was no feat for her. She heard the snapping sounds from the rubber band and Zoro released her hair.

"Done!" Zoro announced proudly.

"What? Really? What have you done?" Nami asked. Kind of shocked at his speed.

"Go look and the mirror and check it out for yourself." Zoro replied impatiently. He hurried Nami into the bath room to check her hair.

Nami was in absolute shock when she saw Zoro's handiwork. She loved it! Never once had she thought that Zoro could do something so nice! But then again, with the Santoryuu, Zoro should be considerably dextrous, she thought. She continued to admire her hair. It was perfectly braided up. A French braid at that. _All done by their resident girly-things-idiot – Roronoa Zoro_. She adored her reflection so much she had almost forgot to thank the _artist. _She pulled her eye from the mirror and turned to Zoro to thank him only to find him _admiring_ his own handiwork. She was about to start on a string of thank-you's before she realize something bigger.

"Hang on, _you know_ how to french braid on a _girl's hair_?" Nami asked. Completely baffled.

"Well, yeah. Obviously." Zoro replied like it was the most obvious thing. It kind of was, to him, considering how he had already done it. Nami kept staring at him to urge him to explain himself. Zoro finally caved under Nami's unwavering stare and started.

"It was a friend-"

"Girlfriend?" Nami interrupted.

"No. Will you listen?" Zoro sighed and waited to confirm that Nami was going to stay quite before he began again.

"It was Wado's original owner. She had to keep her hair out of her face during practise before she decided to cut it for good."

"Oooohhh." Nami nodded knowing she would never get any more of this girl's story out of Zoro's mouth.

"Thanks, then." She added.

Zoro walked away with that and left her on her own to admire herself more. He knew how vain their navigator was. Zoro turned up to look at the sky out at the deck. He knew she was up there watching him. He clutched Wado Ichimonji as his promise sounded in his head again. Now, however, he had improvised the same promise to accommodate his new nakamas – to protect them, make sure their dreams are completed before his.


End file.
